Alpha
by Sanura Bey
Summary: Andrea Ladonair grew up with Leonard and Lisa Snart. After her first kill and her first change, she ran away back to New Orleans to help her pack. She's spent years away from the one place she truly wanted to be until a man comes to invite her on a mission that could change everything.
1. Twice Cursed

"Andrea!" I looked up from the ground I'd been digging in with my best friend at my mother's voice. I smiled before standing up and running to her.

"Mommy!" She bent down and hugged me tightly before pulling back and looking me over.

"Are you okay? Where were you?" she fired off questions.

"I was playing with Lenny." I looked behind me at Leonard who was standing in the yard between the houses covered in dirt.

"I told you not to be out here unless you were with me or your father," she told me and my smile fell.

"But I wanted to play with Lenny..." She just smiled at me before running her hand through my hair.

"I know baby, but you have to be careful. You never know who is watching us. Remember what I told you?"

"To protect our secret," I said quietly looking down at my feet. "I haven't said anything to Lenny, Mommy. I promise."

"I know, but I need you to make sure no one sees you together so neither of you are in danger," she warned.

"Do I have to stop playing with Lenny?" My mother sighed before smiling at me.

"No, you two go play. I'll stay out here." I smiled before running back to Lenny so we could continue playing.

* * *

I'd stayed the night at the Snart household when it happened. I'd gone home the next morning to see the front door hanging on one hinge. My smile faltered and I slowly went inside, trying not to make any noise. I placed my bag by the door and crept through the house when I saw it. Blood was splattered across the wall. I followed the blood before finding my parents ripped apart. I stared at their bodies before falling to my knees and emptying my stomach of everything I'd eaten yesterday.

* * *

A few hours later and the cops had swarmed my house while I sat with Lenny and Lewis outside of their house. The cop was asking questions, but I just stared down at my hands.

"I think she's in shock," the cop sighed. I turned in time to see the corner taking my parents bodies out of the house and in their truck. "Miss Labonair," I looked up at the cop finally. "Do you have anyone to stay with?" I shook my head.

"She can stay with us." Lenny held my hand in his tightly and offered me a smile when I finally looked at him. His father talked to his coworkers before we went back to his house. I hadn't noticed Lenny's dad packing up some clothes for me or even notice when Lenny started the bath for me. I was alone in the bathroom and in the tub before I'd noticed what was happening to me. I stared into the pink water before standing up and starting the shower so I could wash off. After that was done, I got out and slipped into my PJs and went to Lenny's room.

"Andy?" I looked up at Lenny in his own PJs before crawling into his bed next to him and closing my eyes.

* * *

*Years Later*

"Andy!"

"Got him!" I grabbed my gun and pointed it at the man chasing us. "Stop chasing us and you'll get to live," I told him. He just sneered at me before I shot at him. I hit his thigh, trying to slow him down, but he kept coming at us. I shot at him again and he tried avoiding them, but it was no use. One of my shots managed to hit him in his chest. My eyes widened at the blood blooming on his shirt.

"Andy! Let's go!" I turned and ran to Lenny, getting it into the car with him and Lisa. I turned and watched the man struggle to move as we drove off before I sighed and turned back to the others.

"What is it?" Lisa asked me and I shook my head staring at my hands, the gun still naked in them.

"Nothing."

"It's her first kill." I looked up to Lenny as he drove us away from where we'd just stolen a number of gems.

"Oh..." Lisa, who we'd hoped to keep from killing as long as possible seeing as how she was still just a teenager, seemed to realize the significance of the words. My first kill... such a larger thing then he could ever know. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked me.

"He wasn't dead when we left so we'll know soon enough." I ignored both their looks while looking outside. That's when the pain started. I tried biting back my scream of pain before clutching my gut and bending over.

"Andy!" Lisa wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "Lenny pull over!" I felt something in me awaken, scratching to get out before it calmed down and slept again as the tires squealed at the sudden change. I took a deep breath as I felt it breathing. Damn... "Andy! Are you okay?"

"Andy. Talk to us." Lenny ordered.

"He's dead," I mumbled. The man I shot was dead... That means...

"How do you know that?" Lisa asked me. I just sat up, my eyes closed until I felt the beast inside subsiding. I opened my eyes to see a matching pair watching me. I just looked out the window.

"We should go." Neither said anything before Lenny started the car and we left. Tomorrow night. That's how long I'd have until... I felt the burn of their stares on me as we went back to the warehouse.

* * *

The next night, I sat in an abandoned area alone looking up at the moon as it rose higher into the sky.

"Andrea." My eyes widened before turning quickly to see Lenny staring at me. "What are you doing?"

"Leonard. You followed me," I stated. "Why?"

"Lisa was worried," he lied and I smiled.

"You don't need to be, but you do need to leave. Now," I told him looking back at the moon.

"Why?"

"Just do it!" I yelled at him. "Please." He just stared at me for a while before nodding. I watched him walk away before looking back up at the moon. The first waves of pain hit me hard and I fell over, screaming.

"Andy!" I looked behind me to see Lenny running back to me.

"You have to leave. Please, Lenny," I begged him.

"No, I don't leave my crew behind." I cringed at the pain before screaming again.

"Damn it, Lenny! You can't fight this! You can't save me!" I said. When the pain finally stopped I took as many deep breathes as I could. "I knew this would happen when that man died. This stupid curse... You have to leave or you could be..." he brought me to his chest and hugged me tightly.

"Don't die," he ordered and I nodded before wrapping my arms around him.

"I won't." After that, he left and I was left turn into a wolf alone.


	2. Getting the Team Together

"Caesar. Hitler. Per Degaton. Rank amateurs compared to Savage." Rip Hunter was standing in the center or a large room with a spotlight on him. Around him, standing in small areas (imagine a VIP booth at a play or the opera), were men and women in red robes varying in age and race. "His forces have already claimed the lives of billions. And if we possess the means to stop him, and again do nothing, then their blood in on our hands."

"As a Time Master of long standing, you seem to forget our responsibility is to protect the timeline, not humanity," one of the men reminded him. "You wish to engage in the very sort of manipulation of time that we are sworn to prevent."

"And yet, if we allow humanity to perish at the hands of evil, then what universe are we custodians of?" Rip asked him.

"What if, in trying to save the world from Savage, you make it vulnerable to another, more terrible despot?" Another man asked.

"We are not warriors, Captain Hunter," a third told him. "We possess no army."

"And I'm not asking for one," Rip told them. "Just a single timeship and your permission to change history before Vandal Savage puts an end to it. I'm not appealing to you as Time Masters, but as humans, please. Grant me the authority to change the timeline just this once." He begged.

* * *

"How'd the council meeting go, Captain Hunter?" Rip's ship AI, Gideon, asked him.

"Exactly as expected, Gideon," He told her making his way through the ship to the bridge.

"So we are proceeding?" she asked him.

"Indeed," he told her before walking through the doors to the bridge. "Prepare the Waverider for takeoff. Set a course. United States. Star City. January 2016."

"Ah, the early second millennium A.D. The golden age of gasoline engines, online pornography, and those silly little smartphones," she listed off. "What are we going to retrieve, Captain?"

"Oh, not what," he corrected her. "Who. I need you to pull up some files, Gideon. The nine men and women who'll be joining us on our little crusade."

"You usually prefer to work alone, Captain," she pointed out.

"This time, I'll need a team." Gideon set up the right era and place and he pushed a lever to get the Waverider where he needed to go.

* * *

 _"Last but not least, Andrea_ _Labonair. Alpha to the Cresent Pack of werewolves and hybrid."_

 **French Quarter,** **2016**

I sat at the edge of the dock where I'd said goodbye to my friend, Andrew Kenner. Andrew had sacrificed himself for my husband-to-be, Jackson. He'd attacked a 900-year-old vampire and had his heart ripped out which bought Klaus and Elijah time to barter a deal for our lives. While my marriage was political and arranged by my parents and his, this was the best way to save the pack. But, I didn't love him like Hayley, my cousin, did Elijah. At least she could be happy with him while raising her little girl with her father, Klaus, Elijah's younger brother.

"Andrea!" I turned and smiled at the blond hybrid.

"Why are you here, Klaus?" I asked him. "You know the wolves hate vampires out here."

"Yet they allow you," he pointed out.

"I'm their Alpha, not much of an option," I said before looking back out at the water.

"You miss him." It wasn't a question so I didn't reply. He reached his hand out to me from where he stood and I just gave it a look. "I know what will cheer you up."

"What cheers me up and what cheers you up are two different things," I pointed out while taking his hand.

"Believe me, I'm well aware."

"Won't Cami miss you?" I asked him and he gave me a look.

"Cami and I are dealing with her transition our own way, but right now my best friend needs me." He pulled me to his car and we drove off to one of the many clubs in New Orleans that the local vampires fed from. They'd change their location every time, so I never knew which one they'd pick and gotten to avoiding them all.

"Really?" I asked giving him another look.

"Yes," he answered. "A party is just what you need. And a good meal." I rolled my eyes but followed him inside the club. The music could be felt through my bones and I laughed as he pulled me to the dance floor. Klaus and I had never been romantic we just understood each other, and at the time we'd met that was what we'd needed the most. The journey we'd gone through after that had cost me my mortal life, but a little miracle baby blood and I was right as rain. As we danced we talked and laughed about the past.

At the stroke of midnight, the feast started and I grabbed a man close to me and fed off him. He was a tourist who was high and drunk. His blood tasted like the drugs and booze he'd put into his system.

"May I cut in?" I released my fangs from the man's neck to see a man in the trench coat lift his arm and point some silver thing in my face. I then saw a bright light before falling into darkness.

* * *

 **Star City, 2016**

When I woke up, I was laying next to a boy not much older than I appeared to be.

"Ah!" someone said at the other end of the line of people.

"What a headache," a man with a scratchy voice said.

"Stein? What the hell are you doing here?" a third, familiar voice asked.

"I'm as ignorant as you for once," a fourth, older voice said.

"Where are we?" a woman asked.

"Ah!"

"Why don't you ask the dude who knocked us out and kidnapped us?" the boy next to me asked. "British dude with a flashy thing? Ring any bells?"

"And where is our mysterious kidnapper so I can rip his throat out?" I asked stretching my back. I could still feel the blood on my face, dry now and I started scratching it off the best I could.

"The name's Rip Hunter." We all turned to see the man from the club who'd knocked me out. "I'm from east London. Oh, and the future."

"First the past, now the future," I complained as we all stood up. "Life's full of annoyances."

"Nice to meet you, Rip," the man with the scratchy voice said going for the gun on his side.

"Uh, while you were incapacitated, I may have tampered with your weapons," Rip told scratchy.

"Not all our weapons can be tampered with," I said with a smirk feeling my fangs drop and knew my eyes had changed colors.

"No, but I trust you'll hear me out before trying to kill me as your friend did," he said and I shrugged. "I've assembled you all because I need your help. The future of the world is in peril because of a man by the name of Vandal Savage."

"That can't be," the only guy who didn't talk before said. "We destroyed him."

"Yeah, the Green Arrow and Flash helped us do it," the woman beside him said.

"And therein lay the problem," Rip told the pair. "Unless you or Mr. Hall deliver the death blow, Savage can be restored from but a single cell."

"What the hell you talking about?" scratchy asked him.

"Vandal is immortal. Kendra and I reincarnate," leather guy explained.

"Yeah, I've done that," the blonde woman said.

"Been there, done something like that," I commented.

"And what the hell does this Randall guy got to do with us?" scratchy asked.

"Vandal," Rip corrected. "In the future, he will employ the evil he's perfected over his long life, and the power he has amassed throughout history, to finally conquer the world. I've been tasked with assembling an elite team to stop him."

"How?" the blonde asked him.

"To travel through time," Rip told us, his hand moving through the air. "To capture Savage before he grows into the monster he becomes."

"Seems to me like he's not exactly going to make that easy for you if he's been perfecting it since... whenever he came from," I commented thinking of when the Mystic Falls crew tried to stop Klaus from taking Elena.

"You got the wrong guy," the familiar voice said and my eyes widened as he walked past me. No wonder he was so familiar! I did my best to hide my face from him as he moved past Rip. "Hero ain't on my resume."

"Or mine," scratchy, who I saw was none other than Mick Rory, said following him.

"I know it's difficult for you to fathom, but where-when I'm from, the year 2166, you and everyone on this roof aren't just considered heroes... You're legends." Rip told him.

"Legends?" Robocop asked, suddenly getting interested.

"I, um, I hate to nitpick, but doesn't a legend have to be dead?" the older man, Stein Snart called him, asked.

"Yeah, see, us, that's a deal breaker for me, so I'm gonna pass," the boy I woke up next to said.

"Unless you all plan to live to very old ages, you'll all be dead by 2166 anyway," I pointed out.

"It's dangerous for any of you to know too much about your own futures, but I am here because each of you, as individuals, is destined for greatness."

"I could get behind that," Robocop said.

"I have people who need me in the here and now," I said going to the ledge. No way I was going to walk by Leonard Snart with how I'd left things all those years ago.

"Well, Miss Labonair, if you nine don't follow me, this is what is in store for your world 150 years from now." He pulled something out from his pocket and pressed a button on it. The building around us seemed to melt in a sea of red and orange from fires you could see through multiple windows. The sky was filled with smoke and I closed my eyes and looked away. "I could have chosen any time and any place." I looked up to see the city back to normal. "Of all the people who ever lived, I chose you nine. I certainly I hope that you won't let me, and the world, down." He walked past Lenny and Mick to Stein and handed him a card. "If your answer is yes, meet me at this address in 36 hours. I waited for a moment as Rip left the roof before going to Stein and looking at the card. Some of the others stayed and talked about their decision, but I just walked back to the edge. I felt eyes on me and turned to see Lenny staring at me. I stared for a moment, before dropping from the edge and running back to find a vehicle to steal (which turned out to be a motorcycle), and drove back to New Orleans.

* * *

 **French Quarter, 2016**

When I got back home, I went straight to the compound.

"Klaus!" I shouted out for him.

"Why are you shouting this time?" Klaus asked quietly. "Hope is asleep. You wake her and I'll snap your neck."

"Then you won't get to hear my fun, fun story," I said, moving upstairs to join him.

"Where did he take you?" Klaus asked me.

"Star City and just wait until I tell you the whole story."

* * *

After explaining everything about Rip and the mission he'd wanted us all to go on.

"Shouldn't you be talking to your future husband about this?" he asked motioning to the engagement ring on my finger before pouring us a glass of bourbon.

"I'll talk to Jackson later, but right now I wanted to talk to you. Get your opinion on the situation," I told him.

"You mean you want me to tell you what to do," he corrected with a smirk and I rolled my eyes as he handed me the glass.

"No, I want an opinion," I said. "It's not my fault your opinions sound like orders. And you've never minded giving me orders before."

"Traveling through time is different than getting a girl so I can break a curse," he told me and I sighed. "Andrea, is there another reason you want me to tell you what to do?" I stared down at my hands, the tanzanite stone, my favorite, on my ring flashing in the light.

"I saw him tonight," I told him. He'd know who I meant. Klaus and I kept very little from each other.

"Your first love," he said and I nodded. He sat next to me on his couch. I could feel him staring at me, yet he was surprisingly quiet.

"I haven't seen Lenny since my first full moon," I said before smiling at the memory. "He tried to save me from turning. He'd wanted to save me from the pain. Even ordered me not to die."

"He sounds like a good man," Klaus said softly.

"He'd never admit it, but yea," I nodded before looking back up at Klaus. "He's a criminal. One of the best, actually."

"You followed his career," he laughed and I looked back down in my glass. "You still love him."

"That was a lifetime ago," I said and he just smirked at me. "I was a different person back then. Human, for starters. A thief, for another."

"Well then you haven't changed much," he laughed and I gave him a look before joining him. When we'd met, after my fourth or fifth full moon, he'd "hired" me to get whatever he'd needed. I'd turned in early 1990 and my aging slowed due to my werewolf nature. It was easy for me to sneak into places he'd needed me to. Like the local high school in Mystic Falls, Virginia before they even knew Klaus was on his way. "Andrea." I looked up at him. "Talk to Jackson and see what he says, but only you can decide what you're going to do. And who you want."

"I'm marrying Jackson," I reminded him. "I know what I have to do."

"This from the woman who convinced me to be honest with Camille about my feelings," he reminded me. "Should I return the advice?"

"I know what my feelings are," I told him. "But I have a duty to my pack. That requires me to stay here and marry Jackson. Not travel through time with a man I grew up with and a bunch of strangers."

"Hayley can temporarily take your place until you return. Plus, with you being a time traveler," I laughed at him. "You can return to the exact time you left. No time passes for us while you have your little adventure."

* * *

I sighed sitting in the driver's seat in my car before getting the courage to get out and go into the cabin Jackson had been living in. He looked up from the stove and smiled at me, his bow and arrows close by.

"Hey, Andrea," he greeted.

"Hey. I got an offer to travel and help save the world. Which now sounds like a line from some cartoon," I rambled.

"Klaus called me when you were taken from the club by that guy," he told me. "Said he had some sort of flashy gun."

"Klaus did not say "flashy gun"," I laughed.

"I may have paraphrased," he chuckled.

"He offered to let me travel through time with him and a team he put together to stop a future, immortal dictator before he takes over the world," I told him.

"You want to take it." I nodded. He sighed before turning back to his meal.

"You and Hayley can run the pack as Alpha until I get back. And since I'll be traveling in time I could return a few seconds after I left. I might not be gone very long," I told him.

"What about the wedding?" he asked me.

"The wedding will still happen, Jackson," I told him.

"Who knows how long this will take, Andrea," he pointed out.

"For you, it could just be a few days so I can travel to where I need to meet the team and back."

"And for you?"

"I don't know." He moved to stand in front of me and took my hands in his with a smile.

"You know I'll support you with whatever you want to do." I smiled up at him. "I'll even drop you off."

"Which means you might pick me up."

* * *

 **Star City, 2016**

When we arrived at the place I was to meet Rip and the team, it was empty. Jackson and I sat in his truck and waited as the others gathered until a convertible holding the Professor and boy I'd woken up next to with Rip originally kidnapped us. The boy was asleep in the passenger seat. I climbed out of Jackson's truck and was soon joined by the others as we made our way to the Professor.

"Professor!" Snart called out as we made our way to him. "This is the place."

"I think we're being punked," Robocop said. "Do people still say "punked"? Ray Palmer, by the way."

"No," the blonde woman and I said together.

"Sara Lance."

"Andrea Labonair."

"I see your buddy threw himself a going-away party," Hall said looking at the boy. "I'm Carter Hall. This is Kendra Saunders." Kendra waved at us.

"Yes, I believe he drank something that didn't quite agree with him," the Professor said. It wasn't a lie per se, but there was something off. I breathed in deeply and could smell the laced alcohol and smirked. "My name is Professor Martin Stein. This is my partner, Jefferson Jackson."

"I bet."

"You don't look too happy to be here," Snart said looking at the woman next to Hall. "Leonard Snart. Mick Rory."

"Perceptive."

"Who are you?" he asked looking at Jackson. I hadn't noticed him following me with the others.

"I'm just here to drop my girl off." I took a deep breath before glancing at Snart. He stared between the two of us.

"Well, I see you've all decided to come." We turned our attention to see Rip walking towards us. "Well then, we can be on our way."

"I ain't footing it anywhere," Snart said and I shook my head.

"I would hope not or this journey would take a lot longer than I'd like," I said sarcastically. He gave me a look which I returned.

"A Time Master's sacred charge is to do no harm to the timeline," Rip told us and I grew confused at his words. "Can you imagine what a timeship would look like in, say, Victorian England?

"Holographic indigenous camouflage projection," the Professor said. I think I understood three words but not all together.

"Indeed," Rip said proudly. He pulled something out before pressing a button on it. A ship revealed itself to us and my mouth fell open at what was now before us. "It's called the Waverider. It's been my ship for over a decade. Shall we?" he asked before going onboard. I started to follow with the others when Jackson grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. He hugged me tightly to him.

"Be careful and come back in one piece," he whispered.

"I will be," I told him. "Don't forget, I'm a lot harder to kill now." I pulled away with a smile before running to join the others.

Once inside the ship, I looked around in amazement.

"This is beautiful," I said to no one in particular.

"So, that's the man in your life?" I sighed before turning to Snart.

"He's the man I'm going to marry if that's what your asking," I told him. "Not that it's any of your business."

"A man can't be curious to what happened to his childhood friend who doesn't look like she's aged a day in 26 years?" he asked me.

"You knew me when I was just Andrea Ladonair," I reminded him. "A lots changed in my life since I was 16 years old."

"And the fact that you haven't aged?"

"I have aged, but not for the last five years." I walked away from him to the bridge with the others and smiled at the sight. There was a chair in front of nine others set up in threes. In the middle one of the sets, the sleeping boy was strapped in and ready to go.

"Whatever you roofied him with I'd like some," Mick told the Professor, swinging his arm around the older man's shoulders.

"I did not roofie him," the Professor insisted.

"No, you just drugged him," I corrected.

"I have never seen anything like this," Kendra said in amazement.

"Neither have I, considering I have 4,000 years worth of memories, that's saying something," Carter said following her.

"Obviously none from the future then," I said sarcastically.

"No, just all the memories of my past lives," he told me.

"How does a vessel of this size function without a crew?" the Professor asked.

"I don't need one," Rip told him. "I have Gideon."

"Welcome aboard." A blue holographic head appeared in the center of the table. "I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness programmed to operate this vessel's critical systems and aid Captain Hunter in his mission."

"Captain?" Snart asked him.

"Gideon's been working on helping me locate Vandal Savage," Rip told us dodging the question.

"I thought you said he's pretty active in the 22nd century," Ray said.

"Making going after him then a stupid idea," I told him.

"Miss Ladonair is correct," the Professor said. "Perhaps engaging Savage at the height of his powers isn't the strategy."

"Indeed," Rip agreed. "Unfortunately, Savage kept his movements hidden throughout history. Not even Gideon can determine where or when we can find him. But I have the next best thing: the man who can. Professor Aldus Boardman. Professor Boardman is the world's leading-well, only-expert on Vandal Savage. We're gonna pay him a visit."

"Course plotted for St. Roch, New Orleans."

"Home sweet home. Sort of," I said.

"St. Roch?" Carter asked.

"October 17, 1975."

"I suggest you all strap yourselves in," Rip said going to the seat in front of the others. "Temporal navigation isn't something one wants to be standing up for." He strapped himself in and we all quickly followed suit. The Professor, a sleeping Jefferson, and Sara all sat next to each other. Ray, Carter, and Kendra shared a section which left me sitting next to Snart who sat next to Mick.

"Time travel. Cool," Mick said with a grin on his face as he lowered the roller coaster looking straps.

"Some of you may experience some slight discomfort," Rip warned. "In very rare instances, there will be some, uh, bleeding from the eyeballs."

"I'm sorry, what?" Kendra asked shocked.

"And what can we expect to happen to us?" I asked him slightly annoyed. He simply ignored us before hitting a button.

"The human body is used to time unfolding linearly," Rip explained to us.

"Oh," I looked to see Jefferson waking up.

"Jefferson, I'm so glad you're awake," the Professor said excitedly. "I didn't want you to miss this."

"Miss what?" the poor boy asked confused. "What the-" Jefferson tried getting himself out of his harness.

"No, I wouldn't unfasten those if I were you," Rip told him.

"Get me off this-whatever this thing is!" Jefferson ordered angrily.

"Good luck explaining this," Sara told him.

"I did him a favor," the Professor told us and I started laughing.

"He doesn't look all that grateful," Snart added.

"Just hang on and remain calm," Rip ordered. He turned his chair around. "All your worlds are about to change." He pushed a lever and we left 2016.


	3. 1970: St Roch

When we landed, Palmer stood up with a large grin on his face while Mick leaned over the armrest and threw up on the ground.

"Oh, I should have mentioned it before, nausea is one of the side effects of time travel. Along with," Palmer fell flat on his face. "Vertigo."

"I can't see," Stein said removing his glasses.

"And Temporary blindness. It should only last a minute, after all, that was a mere jaunt. The further back in time you go the worse the side effects." I cracked my neck and could practically feel myself healing from whatever happened to me during our "jaunt". Rip waved his hands in front of Stein. "Better?"

"It's all relative."

"Is that supposed to be yes?" I asked quietly.

"Good," Rip said moving away from him as the rest of the team got over whatever was affecting them.

"I can't believe you kidnapped me," Jefferson said angrily to Stein.

"You mean everyone doesn't do that?" I asked sarcastically.

"Have you ever been kidnapped?" Snart asked with his usual tone.

"Once," I answered honestly before smiling fondly. "He was a real dick about it too. Kept calling me a pain in the ass. Suppose he got his revenge when he snapped my neck."

"He did what now?"

"Story for another time," I told him patting his arm.

"Hey," Jefferson caught Rip's attention from whatever he was looking at on the screen in the middle of the... table? I'm gonna call it a table.

"Good news then, 2016 will be around in, uh, 41 years."

"Something tells me you won't stay looking so pretty for so long, kid," I told him.

"Now, you four, feel free to make yourselves comfortable back here on the ship while the rest of you are coming with me to find Professor Boardman."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're benching us?" Mick asked him.

"I thought we were a team," Sara stated standing up finally.

"This mission doesn't require your particular skill set," Rip told her. "Yet."

"Meaning you don't killed, maimed, robbed, or whatever it is Andrea does now and days."

"That about covers it," I nodded.

"Precisely."

"Sure it's a good idea to leave these three unsupervised on a time machine?" Palmer asked Rip.

"Ouch."

"Hey, haircut!" Palmer looked over at Mick. "Deafness wasn't one of the side effects."

"We'd better hurry up. Professor Boardman will die in less than 24 hours," Rip told us.

"What's the point in cutting it so close?" Palmer asked him.

"Because if he's destined to die, then he doesn't have a timeline for us to disrupt, and his impact on the future will be minimal. How brilliant," Stein marveled.

"And depressing," Kendra laughed lightly. "How does he die?"

"Uh, he's found dead in his university from unknown causes. Come on," Rip ordered.

"Are you coming?" Stein asked Jefferson.

"I'll stay put," Jefferson told him as the rest of the "team" left the room.

"You'd rather stay with them?" Stein asked him confused pointing at us.

"They didn't drug me," Jefferson reminded him.

"Point taken," Stein said before turning and leaving.

* * *

Once they were gone, Mick figured out where a remote was and turned on the TV to what was current in this time period, but he did have one complaint.

"Why does this stupid station play nothing but reruns?" This wasn't the first time he'd asked us this.

"Don't even bother trying to explain," Jefferson told Sara as she walked back on the bridge.

"My only question is when is he going to stop asking that damn question?" I asked. "My anger has a very short fuse."

"I remember," Snart chimed in and I took a deep breath.

"I beat black and blue several times, so I'd hope so."

"How do you two know each other?" Sara asked us.

" We grew up together," I told her. She just stared at the two of us.

"How does he look his age when you look like... you?" she asked and I smiled at her.

"Part of the gift of what I am," I answered.

"And what is that, exactly?"

"Secret I'm not willing to tell just yet."

"I have ways I could make you tell me," she said. Her words promised either pain or pleasure, but if she's on this team I was better on the latter.

"I just bet you could."

"Am I the only one on this ship who could really use a drink?" she asked looking between all of us. "I say we go get weird in the '70s."

"Excellent idea," Snart said turning to her.

"Sounds like a party."

"I got the perfect outfit," she told us. We all moved from our spots and toward the door.

"Perhaps Captain Hunter was unclear with his instructions to remain onboard," Giddon said.

"Shut it, metal mouth."

"Oh, you're not quite ready to run with this crew," Snart said turning to the youngest person trying to walk out the door with us. "Sorry, kid."

"Wait, you're just gonna leave me here?" Jefferson asked confused as Snart, Mick and I followed Sara.

"I said I'd take care of you."

* * *

We made our way to a bar and stood around talking as Mick got us beers.

"Ah. Dollar beers. You gotta love the '70s," he said handing us our beers. "Who wants to listen to some Captain and Tennille? My mother played it. A lot." He grunted before finding the song on the jukebox and playing Love Will Keep Us Together.

"Wow," a girl in what looked like a bra under her jacket admired us in our outfits. "You guys are really far out." I laughed lightly at her before taking a drink.

"You want to dance, Leonard?" Sara asked him.

"You go right ahead," he told her. "I'll watch."

"Andrea?"

"Love to." I handed Snart my beer before taking her offered hand and being pulled to the dance floor where we started to dance. It was maybe .5 seconds before a guy got behind her and moved her hair from her shoulder to reveal the back of her neck.

"Can I help you?" she asked him. He nodded with a smile.

"How about you and your little girlfriend join me in the parking lot?" he offered.

"As tempting as that might be," I said sarcastically. "Something tells me you can't handle the two of us together."

"Besides, you're not our type," Sara told him. "But your lady, on the other hand, well, she looks just my speed."

"Maybe you didn't understand my request, bitch." He grabbed Sara by the wrist and I moved back as she grabbed his wrist with her other hand and broke it. "Aah! Son of a..."

"I got this," Sara told us and I moved to stand next to Snart. The guy broke a bottle on the bar and rushed at Sara. She blocked his oncoming attack and knocked him to the ground before kicking another attacker in the head and turning to a third. She blocked his attack and grabbed his face in her hands and slammed his back on the ground. I whistled as she showed off her moves knocking guys down left and right.

"Would you like some help now?" I asked her as all the guys she knocked down got back up again.

"Now I could stand for a little help." Snart dropped the beers in his hand as he, Mick, and I got our pound of flesh from the bikers attacking us. The big one came at me and I smiled at him as he tried to attack me with his one good hand. I grabbed his fist and squeezed it just enough to break a few bones in his hand before punching him in the face and knocking him back down. Another tried attacking me from behind and I quickly turned to block his fist with my arm and I kicked him in the balls before spinning and kicking him in the head.

"I love the '70s," Mick said before Snart threw someone into the jukebox.

* * *

When we were leaving the bar, we hotwired a car and drove back to the ship to see them under attack by a guy in a metal suit.

"Hold on!" Mick warned back quickly turning the car and hitting the guy attacking the team. We all climbed out of the car and turned to where Rip and another older man was.

"We go out for one lousy drink, and you guys manage to pick a fight with Boba Fett."

"Think you need us now, Rip?" I asked him before turning our attacks on Boba Fett. Everyone with firearms held him off while we all got inside the ship safely.

"Professor Boardman has sustained severe internal injuries," Giddean told us.

"Prepare the MedBay to receive Professor Boardman and get us out of here!" Rip ordered.

"Course heading?"

"Anywhere but here!" With that order, Gideon quickly got us out of there.

* * *

"Our cloaking shield and aft entrance have been significantly compromised, Captain," Gideon told Rip as we coasted in... where ever we were.

"Yes, I can see that, Gideon," he told her removing the metal strap keeping him secure to his seat and we did the same. "Station us in the temporal zone while I work on repairs."

"Temporal zone?" Palmer asked.

"Yeah, it's essentially a time limbo. We can hide out here for a bit. Another temporal jump would risk revealing our position," Rip explained grabbing a bag from his office and walking back out to us.

"A time limbo? Astonishing."

"Oh, there's something you people don't know about time travel?" He asked sarcastically. "That's surprising, isn't it? Considering none of you have **ever** time traveled before. Bringing a family member from the past onto a timeship? Breading out and carousing around the 1970s?"

"Didn't know we were prisoners," I commented.

"We've barely begun, and already this is the worst, unmitigated disaster of my career." He turned back towards us only to get Kendra's fist in his face. Mick laughed as he fell to the floor.

"I see why you got the hots for that one." Kendra picked Rip back up and held him against the wall of the ship.

"My son is hurt because of you," she said.

"Son?" I asked.

"From one of her past lives," Ray explained and I nodded.

"Who attacked us?"

"Something of a long story," Rip sighed.

"We've got time," I told him.

"Better tell it fast, Rip, 'cause it doesn't look like the lady's in a patient mood," Snart rose from his seat and Carter moved towards the pair.

"Neither am I."

"His name is Chronos," Rip told him. "He works for the Council of Time Masters." Kendra released him. "My former employers."

"I thought you were a Time Master," Sara accused standing from her seat and walking forwards.

"As I've expressed, time's not a linear thing," he told us. "At some point, I was, in fact, a Time Master." As he spoke he walked towards Sara who only punched him once he was close enough for her to reach.

"Will you people please stop hitting me?" he asked us.

"Then keep your distance," I warned.

"Start telling the truth!"

"I relinquished my position as a Time Master when I commandeered the Waverider. Chronos was clearly sent to bring me in," he finally admitted.

"You lied to us," Stein surmised.

"Of course I lied to you I needed your help - you all barely said yes as it was." Sara turned and walked away from him to stand next to Jefferson.

"What about the legends part?" Jefferson asked him.

"I'm guessing that was a lie too," I told him crossing my arms.

"I chose you all because, a hundred years from now, your lives have minimal effect on the recorded timeline." I scoffed and shook my head. "I needed your help without disturbing the history of 2166."

"So, we're like the opposite of legends," Jefferson said.

"Give me one good reason why we shouldn't kill you," Mick told him.

"I have been getting hungry," I said and I felt the veins under my eyes pulse and knew my eyes turned amber and my canines lengthened.

"Ditto the arsonist."

"Because Gideon wouldn't listen to your commands and you'd be stuck here forever," he told us and I calmed myself.

"Great," Palmer said and I could finally hear something other than happiness in his voice. "So we're not an elite team of heroes on a sanctioned mission, sent to rid the future of its most horrific bad guy. Just a collection of nobodies who time really doesn't give a damn about."

"I didn't lie about the mission itself," Rip corrected. "Or the brutality and ruthlessness of Savage. Or my need for your help."

"I don't imagine you're the kind of guy who quite his job and takes on this kind of threat for altruistic reasons, so Rip, why don't you tell us: what did Vandal Savage do to you?" Palmer asked him. Rip shook his head and sighed.

"The Time Masters discourage marriage. They urge against procreation even more. A Time Master should be free of any personal entanglements that might compromise him. But... I fell in love, and we had a child." As the realization of what he was about to say hit me, my mouth slowly fell open and I thought back to Klaus and Hayley. "A boy. Jonas."

"Savage killed your family," I said quietly, but it seemed so much louder than what it was.

"He slaughtered my family," he corrected angrily. "And thousands of other families. And the body that I swore an oath to serve turned a blind eye. They continue to turn a blind eye. I won't. That last thing that my child saw in this world was that monster's face. You can be damn well sure that when Savage dies, the last face he sees will be mine. I understand, given the circumstances, if you wish to return home. We can make the jump once the repairs are done, if and when Professor Boardman stabilizes." Kendra and Carter rushed from the room to their son's side.

"I think we all need a little time to consider our options," Stein said looking at all of us.

* * *

I sat in the cargo hold with Snart, Mick, Sara, and Palmer thinking about what we all wanted to do. I was playing with my necklace as I thought. I had my pack to think of back home. They were depending on me to marry Jackson so they wouldn't be slaves to the witches anymore. Klaus was depending on me too so he could raise his daughter in his home. Hayley wanted a life with Hope and Elijah, and for that to happen I had to go home. But Rip's family was torn from them, as mine were torn from me. Suddenly, a blast from a piece of Palmer's suit sent out a shot and nearly hit Mick.

"Watch it!"

"Sorry. Sorry," he whispered before sighing. "What's the point of us even giving this a second thought? Rip has already seen the future. He knows exactly what's in store for each of us. Might as well have stayed dead, 'cause the world doesn't need any of us. You're just a lost assassin. You're just three good-for-nothing criminals."

"I can live what that," Mick told him.

"Don't try and imagine what I am," I told him. "You don't know me."

"I can't live like this," he continued. "Can't live with somebody putting a cap on my destiny. Spent my whole life working to be something greater by becoming something smaller. Then some guy comes along and tells me that being the Atom is as insignificant as an actual Atom."

"That's not what he said," Sara told him. "Rip said that in **his** future we're nobodies, but this mission is about changing the future, I mean, if we have the power to change the world, don't you think we have the power to change our own fate?"

"I don't believe in fate and destiny," I chimed in.

"For better or for worse," Snart said and I turned to see him smirking at me.

"That's a very good point."

* * *

"Chronos, even Vandal, won't be the only enemy we face," Rip was saying as we walked onto the bridge. "Very often, it will be time itself."

"Whether it wants to happen or not, we're going to change time, erase Savage's future, and earn our rightful place in history," Palmer told him.

"Dr. Palmer is correct," Stein agreed. "We may not be legends in your time, Captain, but we're going to decide our own fates."

"I don't give a damn about being a legend," Carter told him. "As long as we end Savage once and for all."

"I can get down with that."

"And our malcontents?" Stein asked looking at the three of us.

"I like killing people," Mick told him.

"We're in," Snart said.

"Until we get bored," I added.

"So how do we find this guy?" Sara asked him.

"Professor Boardman had a theory about that," Rip told us sitting in his chair and strapping in. "I've already had Gideon plot a course. We followed suit and sat down, strapped in, and we were off on our first task: kill Vandal Savage.


End file.
